We are delighted to announce that Holoclara is the latest company to join the Kairos portfolio. Founded in 2017 and based in Los Angeles, CA, Holoclara is an immunotherapy startup that aims to bring relief to people suffering from autoimmune disorders through the delivery of nematode derived molecules with potent therapeutic properties.
“We are excited to partner with Kairos Ventures, who made a seed stage investment in Holoclara, towards the development of a discovery that can potentially transform what we understand about autoimmune diseases and how we treat it. We share the joint vision that it is possible to improve the human condition, given the right combination of scientific passion, creativity, and collaboration.”
– Andrea Choe, MD PhD – founder and CEO of Holoclara
This Seed funding allows Holoclara to continue development of their immunotherapy to bring relief to millions of people suffering from immune and autoimmune disorders through the return of key components of nematode secretions. Holoclara has been testing these nematode derived molecules with potent therapeutic properties in mouse models, and they have demonstrated therapeutic relief of asthma, type 1 diabetes, and IBD.
Holoclara’s Founder and CEO, Andrea Choe commented, “We are excited to partner with Kairos Ventures, who made a seed stage investment in Holoclara, towards the development of a discovery that can potentially transform what we understand about autoimmune diseases and how we treat it. We share the joint vision that it is possible to improve the human condition, given the right combination of scientific passion, creativity, and collaboration.”
It has long been known that areas with intestinal roundworms are spared from autoimmune disease (the hygiene hypothesis). This led to the doctrine that roundworms produce immunomodulatory secretions that interfere with the autoimmune disease pathway. One such theory for how this system evolved is that roundworms utilize these compounds to survive immune attack for several hundred thousand years and that humans then co-evolved with these roundworms in a symbiotic manner. The removal of intestinal roundworms only began around the 1900s, which is also when autoimmune diseases arose.
Holoclara founder Andrea Choe has a Doctor of Medicine from Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and a PhD in Biology from Caltech.
Jim Demetriades, Managing Partner at Kairos Ventures, will be joining the Board of Directors for Holoclara. We are thrilled about our investment in Holoclara and welcome them to the extended Kairos Ventures family.
